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Concept for the Graduate School of Frontier Exploration in Earth and Space (working name) Presented at the JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026
Associate Professor Yusuke Nakauchi explains the concept using a illustrative poster, "Future Ritsumeikan Lunar Activities"
Ritsumeikan University exhibited at the JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026, held at Makuhari Messe from May 24 to 29, 2026.
During the meeting, Professor Kazuto Saiki, who is scheduled to join the Graduate School of Frontier Exploration in Earth and Space (hereafter, the new graduate school), together with Professor Taizo Kobayashi, Associate Professor Hiroshi Nagaoka, Associate Professor Yusuke Nakauchi, and others, staffed the Ritsumeikan's booth and introduced the new graduate school to visitors. Approximately 700 visitors, including high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students, and early-career researchers, dropped by the booth during the six-day event.
Professor Saiki (top) and Associate Professor Nagaoka (bottom) engage in discussion with visitors at the booth
Faculty members engaged in detailed discussions with individual visitors according to their interests, research fields, and future career aspirations. They introduced the educational vision of the Graduate School of Frontier Exploration in Earth and Space, which is currently under development at Ritsumeikan University, as well as the Summer School scheduled to begin this September for undergraduate students and technical college students from across Japan. They also presented research activities conducted by the Earth and Space Exploration Center (ESEC), which will work closely with the new graduate school, and explained research and development initiatives for lunar and Martian exploration that have been selected under the Space Strategy Fund program.
A video featuring a roundtable discussion among faculty members scheduled to join the new graduate school was also previewed at the venue.
At the booth, many visitors listened attentively to explanations of Ritsumeikan University's vision for cultivating professionals in frontier exploration of Earth and space through the new graduate school.
Faculty members scheduled to join the new graduate school shared their perspectives, noting that even for those who have not previously considered applying space technologies and space-derived data to challenges on Earth, it is important to recognize that space technologies involve adapting and applying the technologies and knowledge humanity has developed on Earth to the new environment of space. They emphasized the importance of challenging themselves in space-related fields based on expertise and technologies from diverse disciplines and expressed their desire for people to understand that space is closer and more accessible than many might imagine. For visitors, the exhibition provided an opportunity to recognize that pursuing challenges in the space sector can be a realistic and accessible path.